In the course of the past few decades a procedure for constructing buildings, in particular office buildings, has become widespread whereby one creates generally large-surface stories whose ceilings are supported by pillars and which have no layout of rooms through original masoned or cast walls. To obtain maximum flexibility in designing the particular stories one uses parting walls which usually consist of gypsum plaster boards backlined with insulating material. One can thus produce any desired layout of rooms, and furthermore change it later.
The disadvantage of such constructions is that the walls consisting of gypsum board and insulating material must be assembled and interconnected in an elaborate way at the site of their installation. In particular the laying of cable material behind the gypsum boards and the mounting of outlet boxes and the like are elaborate, time-consuming and destabilizing, which makes such parting walls expensive.
The present invention provides a new and unique way of forming partitioning walls, otherwise known as parting walls, which are easy to assembly and adapt to local site conditions encountered during the installation process. The present inventive prefab wall also permits easy installation of cables and the like, as well as the installation of outlet boxes and the like.
Prefab wall elements to be installed both in shells and in finished rooms are provided which are prefabricated in the desired dimensions and can be assembled into parting walls at the site of their installation. The inventive prefab wall element is adapted to local conditions in height by being cut off, and in width by conventional measures. The individual wall elements are interconnected by preferably perforated U-sections to be inserted into grooves formed at least on the lateral edges of the wall elements on the construction site. These U-sections are likewise adapted to the room height on site and fastened to ceiling and floor with connection angles. The individual wall elements can thus be mounted successively until they are connected to an opposite wall. The connection can be performed in the conventional manner, for example with gypsum plaster boards, or else with a specially designed fitting element.
The wall element is provided in different module widths suitable for building, preferably having a width of 62.5 cm at full room height. The wall element consists according to the invention of a core element either having a monolithic structure in the form of a foamed board of PU or PSD foam, a mineral wool compact or another suitable filler, or being formed as a compound element with e.g. horizontal and vertical mineral wool insulating strips applied to a carrier of gypsum, insulating material and/or cardboard. The wall surface is furthermore formed by a corresponding flat element or by a composition which can be of different materials and have different thicknesses according to requirements and demands on the surface.
The core element has a heat-insulating function according to the invention. Furthermore the core element is provided with at least one horizontal and a number of vertical chases whose form is production-dependent. The horizontal chases are preferably provided on one side of the core element and the vertical chases on the opposite side of the core element. If the core element is formed as a compound element, the horizontal and vertical chases can be formed in such a way that the insulating strips glued to the carrier material are spaced apart. If the core element has a monolithic structure, the horizontal and vertical chases are formed directly within the material of the core element.
The structure of the inventive wall elements including the horizontal and vertical chases in the particular core element greatly simplifies the installation of wires in an advantageous way, which is in turn reflected in a considerable time saving for installation. For electric installation one drills a hole with the diameter of the switch, outlet box or the like to be installed in the surface element at the place where the particular plug box is to be installed. Above the plug box one likewise drills a hole for an air-space feeder box at the height of a horizontal chase, thereby penetrating the core element material separating the particular horizontal and vertical chase, be it foam or carrier material of gypsum, etc., and producing a connection between the two chases permitting the drawn-in cable to be readily pushed to any desired place in the wall element.
It is possible to execute the wall elements in such a way that the wall surface elements can be removed upon first installation either completely or with respect to individual chases to facilitate the laying of wires. It is likewise possible to provide the prefab wall element exclusively with vertical chases, this embodiment being suitable in particular for use with suspended ceilings via which the particular cables are guided to the vertical chase in the desired wall element.
Finally a variant of the wall element is provided for application as a plasterboard on solid walls. The structure of this wall element for solid walls corresponds substantially to that of the wall elements described above, a core element again performing a heat-insulating function. Only one horizontal chase is preferably provided, being located between the vertical chases of the element at the upper end of the board. To make it easier to draw in wires horizontally, the horizontal chase is provided on each side with a thin, easily penetrated bar. The surface of the wall element for solid walls facing the particular room is covered in accordance with the wall elements described above with a wall surface element which can be of different materials and thicknesses according to requirements and demands on the surface.